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Price growth cooled to an annual rate of 6% in February, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The annual reading was lower than January’s 6.4% year-over-year level and in line with economists’ forecasts. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.4% in February from January, down slightly from January’s 0.5% increase, the latest Consumer Price Index reading showed. Energy costs continued to fall, with prices 5.2% higher in February year-over-year compared with an 8.7% increase in January. Food price increases also cooled, rising 0.4% last month since January compared with 0.5% the month before, but remain broadly steeper than a year ago — up 9.5% on since last February. The latest inflation data comes as Wall Street and economists continue to process the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday and the New York-based Signature Bank on Sunday and their impact on the broader economy. Markets responded mostly positively to the inflation data in premarket tr...

A passageway near the Bank of England (BOE) in the City of London, U.K., on Thursday, March 18, 2021. Hollie Adams | Bloomberg | Getty Images LONDON — The Bank of England on Thursday hiked interest rates by 50 basis points and dialed back some of its previous bleak economic forecasts. The Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-2 in favor of a second consecutive half-point rate hike, taking the main Bank rate to 4%, but indicated in its decision statement that smaller hikes of 25 basis points may be in the cards in coming meetings. The two dissenting members voted to leave rates unchanged. Crucially, the Bank also dropped the word "forcefully" from its rhetoric around continuing to raise rates as necessary to rein in inflation. "Annual CPI inflation is expected to fall to around 4% towards the end of this year, alongside a much shallower projected decline in output than in the November Report forecast," the Bank said. U.K. inflation came in at 10.7% in December, down sl...

Federal Reserve policy makers on Wednesday signaled they will push on with more interest rate hikes , with several supporting a top policy rate of at least 5% even as inflation shows signs of having peaked and economic activity is slowing. “I just think we need to keep going, and we’ll discuss at the meeting how much to do,” Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said in an interview with the Associated Press. The remarks appeared to reflect a widely shared view among her fellow policymakers, most of whom as of December had penciled in a 5.00%-5.25% policy rate in coming months. Mester said that for her part she expects the Fed’s policy rate to need to go “a bit higher” than that, and stay there for some time to further slow inflation. The Fed’s benchmark overnight lending rate currently sits in a target range of 4.25% to 4.50%, and investors expect the Fed to lift that rate by a quarter of a percentage point at the end of its Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting. But slowing spending, inflation, ...

The Swiss National Bank hikes interest rates again. FABRICE COFFRINI / Contributor / Getty Images The Swiss National Bank increased its benchmark interest rate Thursday for the third time this year, taking it to 1%. The central bank said it was looking to counter "increased inflationary pressure and a further spread of inflation" with the move. related investing news Bond king Gundlach says the Fed should not do more rate hikes after the latest increase Yun Li 11 hours ago Inflation in the country remains well above the Swiss National Bank's target of 0-2%, but is noticeably below the soaring rates of neighboring European countries. Switzerland's inflation rate remained steady at 3% last month, having dropped from a three-decade high of 3.5% in August. The central bank's 50 basis point hike Thursday came after it unexpectedly raised its policy interest rate for the first time in 15 years in June, taking it from -0.75% to -0.25%. It then entered positive terri...

watch now VIDEO 2:05 02:05 Majority of Fed favors slowing pace of tightening soon Power Lunch Federal Reserve official s earlier this month agreed that smaller interest rate increases should happen soon as they evaluate the impact policy is having on the economy, meeting minutes released Wednesday indicated. Reflecting statements that multiple official s have made over the past several weeks, the meeting summary pointed to small rate hikes coming . Markets widely expect the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee to step down to a 0.5 percentage point increase in December, following four straight 0.75 percentage point hikes . Though hinting that smaller moves were ahead, official s said they still see little signs of inflation abating. However, some committee members expressed concern about risks to the financial system should the Fed continue to press forward at the same aggressive pace. "A substantial majority of participants judged that a slowing in the pace of increase...